Prince takes on YouTube

He has spent his career challenging the establishment, even changing his name to try to get out of a recording contract. But Prince's latest argument has seen him take on a different entity altogether - the internet.

The 49-year-old musician said yesterday he is considering legal action against a number of websites - including eBay and YouTube - which he says encourage piracy of his music and videos.

He has asked for more than 2,000 illegally uploaded videos to be removed from YouTube, and is also considering action against eBay and Swedish piracy search engine The Pirate Bay.

"Very few artists have ever taken this kind of action over their rights," said a spokesman. "Yet Prince has shown time and time again he is ready to challenge the system in new ways to put artists and music first."

The move is part of an anti-piracy campaign by Web Sheriff, which patrols the internet for breaches of copyright. The company says it hopes other major stars will join the movement.

YouTube has said it will introduce "video fingerprinting" to try to cut down on the number of copyright-infringing films on its site.